Its poisonous venom withers youth,
Blasts character and health;

-

All sink before it, hope and truth,
And comfort, joy, and wealth.
It is the author, too, of shame,
And never fails to kill.

Reader, dost thou desire the name ?

"The Serpent of the Still!"

Milford Bard. JOHN LOFLAND

19. COURAGE.

COURAGE! Nothing can withstand
Long, a wronged, undaunted land,
If the hearts within her be
True unto themselves and thee,
Thou freed giant, Liberty!

Courage! Nothing e'er withstood
Freedmen fighting for their good.
Armed with all their fathers' fame,
They will win and wear a name
That shall go to endless glory,
Like the gods of old in story,
Raised to heaven and heavenly worth
For the good they gave to earth.

Courage! Who will be a slave,
That hath strength to dig a grave,
And therein his fetters hide,
And lay a tyrant by his side?
Courage! Hope, howe'er he fly
For a time, can never die!
Courage, therefore, brother men!
Courage! To the fight again!

BRYAN WALLER PROCTER.

20. THE SANCTUARY WITHIN THE

BREAST.

FOR man there still is left one sacred charter;
One refuge still remains for human woes.
Victim of care, or persecution's martyr,

Who seek'st a sure asylum from thy foes,
Learn that the holiest, safest, purest, best,
Is man's own breast!

There is a solemn sanctuary, founded

By God himself, not for transgressors meant; But that the man oppressed, the spirit-wounded, And all beneath the world's injustice bent, Might turn from outward wrong, turmoil, and din, To peace within.

Each bosom is a temple when its altar,
The living heart, is unprofaned and pure.
Its verge is hallowed: none need fear or falter
Who thither fly; it is an ark secure,
Winning, above a world o'erwhelmed with wrath,
Its peaceful path.

O bower of bliss! O sanctuary holy !
Terrestrial antepast of heavenly joy!
Never, oh, never may misdeed or folly
My claim to thy beatitudes destroy !
Still may I keep this Paradise unlost,
Where'er I'm tost!

HORACE SMITH.

YE are the temple of the living God.

Bible.

Suppose the little breezes,
Upon a summer's day,

Should think themselves too slight to cool
The traveller on his way;

Who would not miss the smallest

And softest ones that blow,

And think they made a great mistake

If they were talking so?

How many deeds of kindness

A little child may do,

Although it has so little strength,

And little wisdom, too!

It needs a loving spirit,

Much more than strength, to prove

How many things a child may do
For others, by its love.

EPES SARGENT.

22. MILITARY TRAINING IN THE

SCHOOLS.

"Beacon

EXTRACT from an Address delivered, by the Editor of Lights of Patriotism," before the Boston High Schools upon presenting diplomas to the graduating classes, June 29, 1886, — placed among "School-Room Echoes and Hints," as a suggestion of the higher uses of military drill.

THIS diploma which I present to you, young gentlemen, in the name of the school authorities of Boston, has a higher import than as a simple memorial of certain military duty done. I do not emphasize the suggestion that you thereby become better prepared to serve the State and Nation in some future struggle for good order or national defence. Much less do I claim that conduct becoming an officer and a gentleman cannot become the law of life to all who consecrate their youthful time and talent to the behests of true manhood, without military exercise. There ever has been, and there ever will be, a spiritual exaltation of all worthy motives, when thoughtful preparation is made for a possible exposure of life to rescue suffering humanity, or serve one's country. But the occasion which crowns your duties and studies here with this official recognition, obtains emphasis from far higher considerations than those of mere physical development; from something broader and more vital to the commonwealth and nation than fitness for battle-issues, their sacrifices, and their laurels. They who value this special training only by the tests of the gymnasium, or by those equivalents which fix the standards of the field or camp, fail to grasp the true meaning of this special line of duty and study. Have there been numberless small details, tiresome routine, rigid and exacting formula? Have there been stiff positions, artificial attitudes, until

even your eyes were controlled by the will of others? But there is law in all such details, until their realized expression has become harmony, the merging of details into system, hence, character.

The world is full of men who recall school-days with sad regrets that they clung to narrow lines of study without a right conception of the value of all co-ordinate methods which educate for real life. The stern exactions of mathematics, the wealth of historic examples, the luxuries of classic lore and poesy, represent, indeed, jealous mistresses; but their wisest votaries have ever respected the loves of other swains, have respected the enthusiasms of other minds, until each has been refined, strengthened, and blessed thereby. It is just here that I offer a suggestion, and express my appreciation of the enhanced value which your education has acquired through this special factor,—some knowledge of the military art. The thousands who witnessed your annual parade were impressed by the ultimate unity toward which all true education ought to be directed, as they marked the unfolded elements of that successful parade. A single careless guide, or misplaced "camp-color," would have made your true alignments impossible. An error in "sizing" your ranks, would have destroyed symmetry, and that steady bearing which exhibited conscious power. A mis-step would have spoiled a wheeling, or some other critical movement. Loss of cadence in step, as in music, would have destroyed both force and harmony. Assertions of individual will, or indifference to any preparatory order, would have made the whole parade a farce. Absolute subordination to duty became a vital factor, as in every rightful endeavor. Every limb and muscle of every form, every spiritual servant of each individual will, must be in accord with the magnetic sway of the master-mind in charge, if the completed whole, the mighty regimental